Bobcat Bulletin
January 27, 2020
This Week's Events
Monday 1/27
- SRSS Window Opens
- Cycle Two Starts
- Devon at 1:15 Meeting
Tuesday 1/28
- MTSS 10:00am
Wednesday 1/29
- ET in MakerSpace
Thursday 1/30
- SIT Team Work Day
Friday 1/31
- 4-5 Roar Assembly - 9:15 am
- K-3 Roar Assembly - 10:00 am
Next Week's Events
Monday 2/3
Tuesday 2/4
Wednesday 2/5
Thursday 2/6
- Devon at PD
- Grades due at 11:59pm
Friday 2/7
- Devon at PD
Looking Ahead
February 10
- Report Cards Viewable in MiStar
February 11
- Lit Coach (1st AM, 2nd PM)
February 13
- Mary Kay Gallagher here for coffee chat with staff in lounge 11:15 - 1:45
February 14
- 1/2 Day Dismissal 12:15pm
- 1/2 Day ET (1:30 - 3:45)
February 17 & 18
- No School
February 19
- Kindergarten Registration 1:00 - 7:00 pm
February 20
- Kindergarten Registration 9:00 - 1:30 pm
Welcome Michelle from GRBS!
Please give a warm welcome to Michelle who is our new evening lead custodian. Michelle started on Monday and I can tell already she is the right person for the job. She has a can do attitude and asks daily on how to improve. If you see Michelle please give her a warm welcome. We are still in the process of hiring a permanent 4 hour person.
The job roles are almost complete. There a few bugs to work out and as soon as that happens, I will share with you their roles and responsibilities.
F & P Classroom Resource
For those of you that are not aware, Michele Kirkwood asked me to share a F&P Classroom Resource that aligns with the ELA Common Core Standards. She thought you might appreciate having it as a reference. Please click here to view it.
Below are a couple of great reads from readingrockets.org on developing reading fluency and phonological awareness. I thought you might find strategies to try out in your classroom with your students needing additional support in these two areas.
Copy Machines FYI
- Bottom = 8.5x11
- Middle = 8.5x14
- Top = 11x17
You cannot change this. If you change this, the copy machine will break and will be unusable until a service person can come out and fix it.
End of Quarter Important dates
- End of the quarter is 1/24/2020
- You can edit report cards until 11:59pm on 2/06/2020
- Report Cards will be viewable by parents on 2/10/2020
Steam Fair 2020
STEAM Fair 2020 Our Planet: Solving Today's Problems to Open a World of Possibilities for Tomorrow is coming this April (4/22/2020)! We would love to have any and all STEAM/Science/Art presentations and projects that you may have! FOSS Science, Mystery Science Labs, IQWST Science, Science Fair, classroom science and Maker Space projects are all welcome.
NEW THIS YEAR! This year we will be giving awards in the following categories - Grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12. Awards are: Most Creative, World of Possibilities (best aligned to STEAM Fair Theme) and Judges Choice.
Sign up here to be part of STEAM: STEAM Fair Sign Up
FAQs: F&P BAS and Writing Data
With the end of the marking period here, there have been questions about new procedures for BAS & Writing Data. Here are some answers to help you on your way.
What are the windows for F&P BAS?
Here are the windows for all our assessments this year:
19-20 AE Testing & Assessment Windows
Specifically for BAS, they are as follows:
Fall ~ September 30 -November 1
Winter ~ January 27 - February 21
Spring ~ April 27 - May 22
Where do I report the BAS scores?
- Record all data in Illuminate.
- For the end of this card marking since it falls before the BAS window, you will need to use classroom assessments to enter a grade for 2nd card marking.
- The next time you will use a BAS score on report cards will be the end of the year.
Hopefully, as the new report card is developed this windows will become more aligned.
Who do I need to assess for BAS in the Winter?
This is new this year, so here is a chart to remind you who you do not need to assess in Winter based on their Fall BAS scores.
Where do I record writing scores?
A recording form within Illuminate is in the works, but until it is active we ask that you still report your writing data here: AE 19-20 Writing Data TrackerLC Corner - Curriculum, Literacy & Learning...oh my!
Reading Levels, Behaviors and the Continuum
We know that reading is a complex process that leads to fluency, accuracy and comprehension and hopefully a lifelong love of/interest in the written word. As we continue our Guided Reading groups and look toward beginning our winter BAS, it is important to remember that F&P has designed their assessment and curriculum resources to support the F&P Text Level Gradient. The entire Literacy Continuum is structured level-by-level for each area of a balanced literacy framework. In each section it lays out detailed descriptions of what behaviors to look for, to introduce and to grow at each level. The best way to help our students grow as readers is to know where they are independently and then work with them on more challenging texts in order to develop and master new skills and strategies to make meaning from the text. This starts with us knowing what to look for beyond a student’s reading rate and accuracy.
We have heard the phrase that reading levels are a tool for the teacher, not a label. These reading levels are more than just a letter too, in following the F&P design these levels represent specific characteristics of readers at each step of their growth. They are full of depth, description and detail.
Julie’s checklist is included in the link above as well as a few more to aid you in your assessment of your students. Each checklist is linked in one way or another to our ELA standards and the F&P Literacy Continuum. Hopefully you will find something that will work for you to help track your students growth as readers.
Welcoming Rituals and Optimistic Closures
I am seeing some wonderful examples of both of these throughout the building! Thank you so much for implementing these into your daily routine...they're an integral part of our Social/Emotional goal for the year. Please see the links below for more examples of Welcoming Routines and Optimistic Closure Routines:
- Click here for the the CASEL Three Signature Practices Playbook. It has LOTS of suggestions for Welcoming Rituals and Optimistic Closures
- Click here for more Welcoming Routine examples
- Click here for more Optimistic Closure examples
Dismissal Duty
Week of 1/27
- Bus - Cowger
- Loop - Hartnett, Rohrhoff, Wayne, Willerer
Week of 2/3
- Bus - Babich
- Loop - Vertrees, Beson, Long, Borchard
Random Useless Facts
Although no longer enforced, it’s been technically illegal to mispronounce “Arkansas” while in Arkansas since 1947.
- California’s official state animal, the California Grizzly Bear, is extinct.
- Georgia is the home of Coca Cola and in 1998, a Georgia student was suspended for wearing a Pepsi shirt on State Coke Day.
- On New Year, Idaho drops a giant potato rather than a ball.
- The last prisoner to be executed in Iowa requested a single olive as his last meal, hoping an olive tree would sprout from his body as a sign of peace.
- In June of 2008, a tornado hit Kansas State University’s campus. It only destroyed one building, the wind lab.
Now that I've been observed...how do I upload and label evidence into pivot again?
1. Upload, name, and code evidence to a specific indicator.
2. To check where you have evidence by indicator.